Stranger
by ashleyleeandra
Summary: This is a rewrite of my first fanfiction. Summary in the first chapter. TroyxGabriella :
1. Chapter 1

_Stranger was the first Fanfiction I've ever written and so by my standards it isn't very good. Because of that I'm writing it over and this already sounds ten times better than the old first chapter. I hope anyone who reads this story thinks it's good too._

_Summary: Gabriella Montez had a perfect life: a mother who worked hard for her, a boyfriend who loved her and friends who cherished her. But when her boyfriend's jealousy causes him to do something unforgivable, will she be able to love again or will she surrender to a total Stranger? Based on the song Stranger by Hilary Duff. Rated T._

Chapter 1: Perfect

"Hey Ryan." Gabriella Montez's happy voice made Ryan's heart turn in his chest. It was a beautiful melody, more gorgeous than anything Mozart had dreamed of composing. If Ryan was the night sky then Gabriella was the brilliant, shining star. He loved her beyond reason, enough to kill her if she ever cheated on him.

"Hey Brie." He dipped his head down to kiss her lips and felt satisfied as she sighed and unconsciously wrapped her tanned arms around his neck while his arms encircled her petite waist. There was nothing about her that he didn't want, no small quirk he didn't love. She was his everything, the only reason there was for him to live. He was obsessed by her, addicted to her. No one else could have her. She was his and his alone. As they pulled away from each other she let out a tiny giggle and Ryan smiled down at her, making her feel wanted and loved. He craved her, she could tell from the hunger in his eyes.

"We should get to class. Mrs. D is...Mrs. D." She placed her tiny hand in his medium sized one and they sauntered swiftly toward homeroom. Gabriella pulled to a stop as she saw her best friend and ex boyfriend Troy Bolton. Troy's dirty blonde hair was shaggy and fell into his cerulean eyes which made him look ruggedly handsome. She was glad they could still be friends after what had happened the previous summer but she still felt a twinge whenever she looked at him. It wasn't easy to get over love like what they'd had.

"Hi Troy." He turned to them and Ryan noted the sadness in his blue eyes as his gaze dropped to their joined hands then climbed back up to their beaming faces. The fact that Troy still loved Gabriella didn't cause Ryan that much worry because the boy kept it to himself and didn't try to be anything but Gabby's friend. As long as things stayed the way they were, he and Troy could be cool.

"Hey Ella. Hey Ry. I'm just gonna finish getting books out of my locker and see you guys in homeroom, okay?" Gabriella nodded and she too noticed the sadness in Troy's eyes. She had a fleeting thought that he possibly still loved her but that didn't matter to her anymore. Ryan was her world. He was ten times more caring than Troy had ever been and unlike her former boyfriend, Ryan would never hurt her. He'd die before he did. She waved at Troy as she and Ryan walked away and then leaned into her boyfriend, grateful for his love.

As Troy watched them walk away ten kinds of jealousy assailed him at once. If only he hadn't been such a power hungry jerk at Lava Springs, his Ella would be leaning on his arm and would have kissed him that morning. He would never forget how good her lips felt on his or how secure he'd felt when she was in his arms. He wanted her back but more than that he wanted her to be happy and as far as he could see, Ryan made her happy so out of selfless love, he would let her go...

"Troy! Troy!" the blonde's head snapped up as he returned to East High's gym. His head had been lost in the exact colour of Gabriella's brown eyes. At first glance they could appear black but a closer look revealed them to be dark chocolate. When the sun shone in them they were a beautiful golden brown with chocolate flecks in them. That was the colour he loved the most. Chad's booming voice had brought him back to the one on one they were playing.

"I'm sorry, dude. I was just thinking about...something." Chad knew without a doubt that the something he was thinking about was a someone and the someone was Gabriella. It was sad to see just how much he mourned his loss of her and the chivalrous bastard wouldn't even fight to get her back. He had some misplaced belief that she was happy with Ryan when anyone with half a brain knew that Gabriella had been much happier with him.

"Seriously Troy, this constant obsessing over a girl who dumped you is pathetic and it's killing me to watch." His captain sighed and sat on the reserve bench, putting his head in his hands. It was true, he was pathetic but he couldn't help it. Every time he closed his eyes all he saw was long, curly, chocolate hair, equally chocolate eyes, naturally tanned skin, full lips and endless curves. Why did the girl have to be so...

"...perfect. My life is so perfect." Three blocks away, Gabriella sat on her bed in her room while Taylor held up two outfits. One was a pale blue strapless dress that came up to her thighs. It had a black belt for the waist and Taylor had matching blue heels. The outfit was killer. The other one was okay, a black miniskirt and a purple tube top with knee length black boots but the first one was to die for and she could totally see Taylor wearing it.

"Which one?" it wasn't hard to choose. Because of where Taylor and Chad were going-a pricey restaurant-the blue dress was the only choice. She pointed at it and Taylor beamed. She'd loved that dress from the moment she set eyes on it and was finally getting a chance to show it off. "Do you think it will look good on me?"

"Taylor, you could wear a prison uniform and it would look good on you." It wasn't an exaggerated compliment. Taylor was one of those people who looked good in everything. Tay smiled happily at her friend and quickly changed into the slinky blue dress, which made her look way to sexy to be seventeen.

"You were right, as usual." She spun around in front of the full length, intricately designed mirror and admired the way the length; or lack of, the dress showed off her long, slim legs to perfection. It also rocked her beautiful chocolate complexion. Gabby smiled. Of course she was right.

'It's awesome to be me.'

Back at East High Troy was laying all his problems on Chad, who was constantly checking his three watches. He was three minutes, two- no three seconds late to pick up Taylor and he still had to go home and change. He loved his bro, but his girl was going to be pissed off and bitching if he didn't get there within the next three minutes.

"I shouldn't still love her and want to be with her every second but I do and it sucks." Troy noticed that Chad glanced down at his wrist and arm for the seventh time in two minutes. "Are you late for something, man?"

"Uh, yeah, I have to go pick up Taylor from Gabby's and I have like three minutes to get there before my phone starts ringing and if I don't answer it I'm beyond dead. I know the brother pact says we have to listen to each other's problems and have this sissy, girly pep talk but I really need to get out of here." Troy practically pushed his bro out the gym door and sighed. He couldn't just take Chad away from his life and lay all his problems on him. He needed to work out his need for Gabriella by himself. If only he could bring himself to tell her that he still loved her and wanted to be with her but that wasn't going to happen.

"I am such a spineless coward." He said and sighed again, his heart heavy. Why had he let that stupid, blonde drama queen let him think that impressing a stupid team of oversized sports freaks was more important than being with the one person he could be himself with? "Dumb idiot."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums you up, Bolton." Oh great, now here was the drama queen's brother, the very man who had the girl he loved. How many times had he imagined stabbing him with his mother's favourite kitchen knife? Somewhere along the lines of a thousand.

"Is something wrong, Ryan?" the guy seemed tense and frustrated, and maybe angry but that could just be his overactive imagination. Was it one thousand or closer to two?

"Yes, actually. You're wrong if you think I'll let you steal Gabriella." Okay so it wasn't imagined anger. His day just kept on getting better. Ryan had heard their conversation. As if that wasn't painfully obvious.

"I'm not going to steal Gabriella, Ryan. As long as she's happy, I'm good." Lies. Carefully practiced, well thought out lies. He was nowhere near good. In fact, he was surprised he hadn't taken up smoking or drinking to try to drown out the little voice in his head going 'You failed her, you jackass. You let her down. She was the only one who knew you and you let her go. Good going. You deserve a Grammy.' Oh fuck him.

"Good. But you're still going to stay very far away from her." Okay, now the controlling bastard was pushing it. If he couldn't be around Gabby then he would definitely take up smoking...or heroin. Wasn't it enough that he had to sit and see them act all lovey-dovey every day? Stupid, masochistic idiot that he was, he could never take his eyes off them and the amount of love shared between them made him sick to his stomach.

"Not happening, hat boy. Gabriella is my best friend and the only way I'm staying away from her is if she asks me to. Have fun trying to order her into that." He pushed himself up off the bench and walked away, not looking back once, even though he felt Ryan's hard stare on his retreating back...

"That damn, lunkhead fool is late. I'm going to geld him if he stands me up." Tay vented as she paced Gabriella's bedroom. This always happened. She spent hours making sure she looked stunning for that ungrateful freak and he came to pick her up late. Of course he usually made up for it but that didn't stop her from being upset.

"Chad wouldn't do that, Taylor. Calm down." Gabby rolled her expressive brown eyes and glanced out the window. Two minutes later Taylor had gone into her first round of swearing when a car horn blew frantically.

"Oh, he knows he's in some deep shit." Taylor gave Gabby a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before grabbing her bag and heading down the stairs to the front door. She passed Ryan on the way in and wondered why he looked like he was about to go off on someone but she forgot all about that as she saw Chad standing with a long stemmed lavender rose in his hands. But the brother wasn't getting off that easy. By the time she was finished with him, he'd be buying her truckloads of roses, not just one lonely stem...

Gabriella jumped as her bedroom door slammed shut. She looked up to see Ryan and instantly smiled until she noticed the storm in his eyes. He was furious about something and that was never a good thing.

"Umm...what-" she began but was interrupted by his lips coming down rough and hard on hers. Ryan was always gentle with her so this came as a shock to her. What was wrong? When he finally pulled back some of the anger had faded but he still looked ready to pound his fist into someone over and over again.

"Stay away from that worthless sack of shit named Troy Bolton." Her eyes widened and she took a step back. Ryan had never once sworn in the year and a half she'd known him and she wasn't sure what this violent Ryan was capable of.

"Why would you want me to stay away from him? Troy and I are nothing but friends. I love you, not him." He stepped forward, trapping her between him and the wall. For some ridiculous reason she felt afraid. Ryan would never hurt her.

"He still loves you. Everyone knows it, and yet you talk to him, and smile at him and call him nicknames, sing with him, play basketball with him, everything you used to do when you were together and you think I'm going to believe that there is nothing between you but friendship. Sure, he was a jerk, but that doesn't erase the year you spent loving him. It can't just die like that. A part of you still loves him and I am telling you to stay away from him." This was so not her Ryan. This was a jealous control freak in the body of the love of her life and she wanted the Ryan she loved back. She was not going to be ordered around.

"No, Ryan. I may have been in love with Troy at one point but that doesn't mean I'm going to cheat on you and your jealousy isn't a good enough reason for me to stay away from one of my best friends." Before either of them knew what he was doing, he'd backhanded her and Gabriella had the salty, metallic taste of blood on her tongue. He hit her again and she went down from the shock of it. He seemed to enjoy it, beating her, robbing her of his love and the love she had for him. The thing that scared her the most was not the fact that no one was home and he could easily kill her, or the fact that he didn't seem like he wanted to stop. What scared her the most was the sick, sadistic pleasure in his eyes as he hit her and as she floated in blissful unconsciousness she had the sickening thought that she'd fallen in love with a complete stranger.

_Does it sound okay to you guys? I think it's a good effort but it's my work so other people's opinions are needed. Please review even if you tell me it was the most horrible thing you've ever read in your life I'll still be grateful for the constructive criticism. Come over to the dark side...we have cookies. Lol._

_Ash_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

The first thing I became aware of was the thudding in my head. It hurt like hell and I couldn't figure out why. I opened my eyes and immediately wished I hadn't. The thudding turned into throbbing and I almost faded back to unconsciousness just from the intense pain. I raised a hand and tentatively touched my cheek. It stung and tears welled up in my eyes as I realised that what had happened wasn't a horrible nightmare. Ryan had really stormed into my room and ordered me to stay away from Troy, and then beat me when I refused. The tears spilled onto my cheeks and I wiped them away, slowly lifting myself off of the tiled floor.

I looked over at the clock on my nightstand and saw that it was eight at night. Taylor had left around four and Ryan had come in a few minutes after that. I'd been unconscious on the ground for almost four hours. I couldn't believe what had happened, or that he'd left me on my bedroom floor without even waiting to apologise to me. Things were beyond over between us, there was no way that I'd ever be with him again. Not after this.

I walked over to the mirror that stood against the wall across from my bed. My cheek had a huge red bruise on it that was slowly beginning to turn purple. If my mom saw this, she would lose her mind. She would want to press charges against Ryan, and get him locked away forever. I didn't know if I wanted that. I didn't know anything anymore. I couldn't even wrap my mind around the fact that the man who claimed to love me would do something this horrible to me. How could he?

I sat down on the edge of my bed and buried my face in my hands, as tears of betrayal rolled slowly down my cheeks. I thought about calling Taylor, or Troy, but I was ashamed that I'd let him do that to me, and I knew how they would both react. Taylor would immediately call the cops, just like my mother would and Troy would probably beat Ryan to a bloody pulp. I couldn't bring myself to let anyone hurt Ryan. I still loved him. I'd talk this out with him tomorrow. Hopefully, he'd be better tomorrow. He had to be. Are at least I hoped so. With that thought I climbed into bed and fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning, there was a sharp pain in my side and my head was still throbbing. I hissed as pain shot up my side when I moved and bit my lip to stop myself from screaming. I didn't want my mom to come in here and see me like this. I stood and walked over to the mirror, gently lifting my shirt up and twisting to look at my left side. A long purple bruise covered my side. It looked and felt horrible. I sighed and stripped off my clothes, wrapping myself in a fluffy towel and heading to my bathroom. Once there I took a long, warm shower. I felt a little better and a little more human after that, and headed back to my room.

I carefully dried myself off and slipped on my underwear, trying to decide what to wear today. I didn't want anyone to think anything was wrong, even though it definitely was, but the close fitting clothes I usually wore would make the bruise uncomfortable. I settled for a loose, beaded spaghetti strap top. It was blue, just like Troy's eyes. I used to think of him every time I wore it. Since being with Ryan I haven't worn it much, but it was comfortable and still fashionable so it was a good choice for today. I pulled it and a pair of black pencil bottom jeans on, then slipped on my black ballerinas and went to stand in front of the mirror.

The bruise on my face wasn't as horrible as the one on my side. I reached for the makeup I hardly ever used and brushed some concealer over the bruise. I kept at it until it didn't look like there was a bruise at all. I added some lip gloss and a little mascara, then grabbed my school bag, making sure to put it on my right side, and headed downstairs.

"Mornin' Gabi." My little sister Lilly chirped, smiling sweetly at me. She was thirteen years old and going to start at East High next year when I went off the college, probably Stanford. Lilly was a sweetheart, well-mannered and even tempered. As little sisters went, she was a great one and I was really lucky to have her. We hardly ever fought about anything and she loved Ryan. He was always sweet to her, and gave her dance lessons.

"Morning, Lil." I replied, plastering a fake smile on my face. Thinking of Ryan made my heart ache. I shoved him to the back of my mind and focused on making sure Lilly and my mother didn't think anything was up. I walked over to my mom, who was putting two plates on the table, and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, Mom." I said, taking the plate from her and sitting next to Lilly. She smiled and poured orange juice for my sister and me. I ate in silence while Lilly and my mom chatted. I quickly finished my breakfast and washed up my plate, before waving goodbye to my mom and sister and heading out the door. I stopped short when I saw a familiar beat up white pickup idling on my curb. Troy was leaning against the door wearing a black vest and jeans. His muscles were ripped and just looking at him made me want to pull him into the back seat of his truck and have my way with him like I used to.

"Troy? What are you doing here?" I asked, walking up to him. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous. I smiled at the familiar habit. The things I loved about Troy never changed. But he had in some ways. For worse last summer, but he was better now I could see it. I just ignored it because I was with Ryan.

"Well, I thought I could give you a ride, like I used to. I mean, we're friends right?" he said and I nodded. He grinned and opened the door for me, shutting it behind me when I got in, then got into the driver's seat. He started up the truck-it took three tries which I laughed at heartily-and we made our way to school. During the drive we talked about random things, the game that was coming up, how I was doing on the scholastic decathlon, stuff like that. But when we pulled up I put my hand on his arm. I knew him better than anyone. Something was up.

"Troy?" I said and those blue eyes that I used to love staring into turned to me. God, his eyes were beautiful. "Why did you really pick me up this morning?" he looked down for a minute and took a deep breath before looking up at me.

"Yesterday I was talking with Chad in the gym." He said, taking my hand. "He said something that started me thinking, and then Ryan-"

"Ryan? What did Ryan do?" I asked, cutting him off. He looked at me in silence for a minute and then sighed. "Troy?"

"He's your boyfriend, Ella. I don't want you to think I'm being jealous or something stupid like that." He said and I narrowed my eyes on him. He sighed again and looked out the window of his truck. "He told me to stay away from you."

"What?" I said, stunned. Who did Ryan think he was? He was my boyfriend, not my father; he had no right to decide who I could and could not speak to, or to tell one of my friends to stay away from me because of his stupid insecurities and jealousies. I was about to say something to Troy when I felt his arm tighten under my hand. I looked up to see Ryan standing outside his window, leaning on the truck.

"Hey guys." He said, smiling at us both. "What's up? Am I interrupting something?" I saw Troy clench his jaw and he looked over at me, a dirty blonde eyebrow raised.

"Actually, Ryan, we both need to talk to you." I said, giving him a tight smile. Ryan's smile stayed firmly in place as he waited with an expectant look on his face. They were both waiting on me so I cleared my throat and glanced at Troy then focused on Ryan. "I love you Ryan."

"I love you too, Brie." He replied automatically, smiling at me before his eyes flicked to Troy. His smile faltered a little, and there was something in his eyes that I'd never seen before. It looked a lot like hatred.

"I know that." I said and realised that I believed it. Even though he'd hit me, I knew he actually did love me. "But Ry, I love Troy too. You were right; love like what we had doesn't just disappear." I looked across at Troy, who smiled at me. I squeezed his arm and I saw Ryan's eyes flick down to the movement. He looked up at us. The smile was still in place but his eyes were frozen. He was reading more into this than there was. "It doesn't disappear but it changes. He's my friend. Would you tell Chad to stay away from me?"

"No Brie." He said, and I smiled, thinking I was making him see sense. That was until the smile slipped away completely. He leaned more into the window to look at me directly. "But that's because Chad doesn't want to lay you out on a bed and screw you, then toss you aside like your _friend _did to my sister." My eyes widened in shock and Troy's eyes turned dark blue in anger.

"You sick fuck. That's your own sister that you're talking about. I've never slept with Sharpay and I would never treat her like that." Troy bit out, furious. Ryan shrugged. I decided to talk to Ryan about the lying later and focus on getting him to give up on keeping me away from Troy.

"Ryan, please. Just listen, ok? Try not to let your insecurity cloud your judgement here." I said. I squeezed Troy's hand again reassuringly and got out of the car, walking over to Ryan and wrapping my arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "I promise you, I love you. I would never hurt you. Ok?"

"Ok." He said, nodding. He pulled me closer to whisper in my ear. "I'm so sorry sweetheart. I have no idea what came over me. Say you forgive me, please?" I shuddered and nodded, grateful that I had my sweet boyfriend back. I knew Ryan was capable of being reasonable. Hopefully things would get better from here.

**Troy's P.O.V**

Ryan had no idea exactly how goddamn lucky he was that Ella was next to me in that car this morning. I seriously wanted to pound the asshole into a bloody pulp. How could he say something like that about his own sister? And how could he lie about me like that in front of Gabriella? And how could she just instantly overlook that and forgive him? Did she not hear him spouting lies about me?

The bell rang for the end of fourth period and I shook my head, trying to clear it. I packed up the Wuthering Heights that was open in front of me and my notebook. I hadn't paid any attention in class and my English Lit teacher glared at me as I shuffled past her out the classroom. I stopped at my locker and took my wallet out of my bag before shoving it into my locker and slamming the door. I turned around and stopped short as I saw Gabriella right in front of me. I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, my eyes on the floor.

"Hey." she said quietly, a small smile on her beautiful face. She was the most amazing girl I had ever met, and I loathed myself for leaving her to the likes of assholes like Ryan Evans. What was she even seeing in that guy?

"Hi, Ella." I replied. I was so angry, but that all melted away the minute she smiled at me. I couldn't bring myself to be mad at her for not chewing Ryan out over lying about me and Sharpay. He must have known that that would hurt her, to think that I had slept with the one girl who has always been out to get her. Although Shar really didn't care about either of us anymore. She was too busy with Zeke and his baking.

"I'm really sorry, Troy." she said, stepping closer to me and looking up into my eyes. "I know you must have been hurt when I let what Ryan said about you slide. I didn't believe it, I just wanted you to know that. I'm gonna talk to him about it. I've never seen him like this before." she wrapped her arms around herself as she said that, and got a haunted look in her eyes like she was remembering something horrible.

"It's okay, Ella." I mumbled. I noticed how she let her eyes drift down my body and grinned internally at that. I'd always loved the way she looked at me. I knew she couldn't help but drool when my muscles were exposed. Thank you dad for making me play basketball. "Wanna come eat lunch upstairs with me?" her eyes lit up when I mentioned our little jungle upstairs. It was our place where we could always be ourselves with each other. I ate up there alone most days, thinking about her.

"I'd love that." she said and grabbed my hand as we walked into the cafeteria. A hush fell over the crowd of students as they took us in, and then the cafeteria exploded in loud whispers as everyone contemplated the meaning of a what was just a simple, natural showing of affection to Gabriella and me. Ella rolled her eyes as we joined the lunch line, letting go of my hand to grab a tray. We paid for our lunch and headed upstairs together, talking about the new musicale Mrs. Darbus was putting together.

We sat on the bench and ate together, laughing and talking. We sang together for a little bit, our voices sounding like magic together, like they always had from the first moment at the ski lodge on New Year's Eve when I'd first looked into those brown eyes. She looked across at me and the wind blew a lock of curly hair into her face. I smiled and brushed it aside, my fingers lingering on her cheek as we looked at each other.

"Troy." she whispered, pressing her fingers against mine and leaning into my hand. I nodded, waiting expectantly, and she looked into my eyes. I'd missed being this close to her. I wanted to kiss her but I knew she wouldn't let me. Damn Ryan. "You were going to tell me something in the truck this morning. What was it?" I took a deep breath as I contemplated whether to tell her or not. I would probably regret it if I didn't at least tell her how I felt.

"Ella, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met." I said and she blushed and looked down, her long, beautiful eyelashes making crescents on her cheeks. She looked up at me again and smiled. "I am so sorry for becoming what I became last summer. I never wanted to lose you and I almost did. I thought that I could settle for letting you be happy, but I can't. The truth is, I love you Ella, and watching you with Ryan breaks my heart every day. I just wanted you to know, you'll always be the girl for me. The girl who helped me to break free."

"Troy..." she said again, tears gathering in her eyes. I wiped them away as they spilled down her cheeks and she sighed. "I have to go." she said, standing up and backing away from me before practically running down the stairs. I groaned and put my head in my hands. I just hoped I hadn't blown it. I couldn't live without Ella in my life. I needed her here with me. My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, expecting it to be from Chad or Ella. It was from an unknown number and I opened it, curious. My eyes widened as I read and reread the message to make sure I was seeing right.

_Your days are numbered Bolton. Watch your back._

__I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I knew that only one psycho jazz hands dancer would have sent me this. And he had better watch his own back. I wasn't going down without a fight.

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

****I ran down the stairs to the roof and out into the hall. It was deserted, because everyone else was in the cafeteria. I leaned against a wall and let the tears run down my cheeks. God, I loved him. I didn't know why I'd lied myself for so long and pretended that my love for him had dimmed to one of friendship. I wanted him, wanted to be with him with a passion so intense it was scary. I loved Troy with all my heart. I should have stayed up there with him and let him hold me, let him kiss me again, and make me feel all the things I'd always felt with him and that I could never feel with Ryan. Of course I loved Ryan, he was so good to me. But Troy was my flame.

"Well hello there, Brie." my eyes popped open as I heard Ryan's voice. He was leaning against the lockers across from me, a sickly sweet smile on his face. "What were you and Troy up to?" I frowned and pushed myself off the wall to step closer to him. I put my hands on his chest and looked up at him. I wished I could feel for him what I felt for Troy. It would be so much easier, so much safer. Ryan ran his hands gently down my shoulders to my wrists and then he gripped them so hard I hissed in pain.

"You're hurting me, Ryan." I whispered, looking up into his eyes. There was no remorse there, just fury. He didn't even care that he was hurting me, the anger had taken him over completely. "We were just talking, I swear."

"He told you he loves you. I saw your face when he said it. You'd only be too happy to dump me now, and go back to him, you slut." he said, fire in his eyes. Ryan had never talked to me this way before. Ryan had never talked to _anyone _this way before. I didn't know him anymore, and I didn't want to. I tried to pull away but he held me tighter, and I gasped in pain. "Don't try to get away from me. You're never leaving me. You're mine, understand."

"Ryan, what are you doing?" I said, shocked. "Please, I love you don't-"

"You fucking liar!" he screamed, spinning and slamming me against the lockers. I cried out as pain shot up my back and my left side. "You don't love me! You love _him_!" he pulled me forward and slammed me into the lockers again and I cried out again. I tried to apologize, not knowing what else to do, but he rammed his fist into my stomach and I crumpled from the pain. "You're mine, Brie. Forever." He shoved me onto the floor and walked away, while I curled into a ball, crying. I don't know how long I lay there, but when the bell rang I knew I had to move. Troy would be coming down those stairs soon. I had to go before he went after Ryan and the monster hurt him to. I hauled myself painfully from the floor, almost falling down again from the pain. I hobbled my way out of the hallway and then out of the school.

Above me, angry grey clouds swirled as I walked towards home. I couldn't stay at that school right now. Someone would send me to the nurse and they'd see the bruises. Ryan would hurt me again. He'd hurt Troy. I just had to get home and everything would be okay. I slowly made my way down the street, trying to ignore the pain flaring all over my body. The sky opened up and the rain felt like bullets against my skin. It plastered my shirt to my bruise, which brought me more pain with every step. By the time I made it to my house I was ready to die. I didn't want to live like this. This betrayal was too much.

I slowly unlocked the door and went inside the house. By sheer strength of will I made it up to my room. I was way too exhausted to do anything but strip off my clothes and drop into my bed. I lay there curled up, hating myself but mostly hating Ryan. How could he do this to me? I knew he wouldn't just hurt me, he'd hurt everyone I cared about if I didn't do what he said. I had to protect them from him, even if it killed me. I had to save them from the stranger Ryan had become.

* * *

><p><em>:) I think this is a much better second chapter than the original one. Much more detail and depth. And the story doesn't run along as fast. There's more suspense. ^_^ reviews are welcome.<em>


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

When I woke up I was stiff all over. I couldn't move without wanting to scream in pain. My back and side were aching. All I wanted was to curl up in a ball and die. The sun was bright outside my window, birds were singing happily, and I felt like my whole entire universe was falling apart. I closed my eyes and softly sang to myself, trying to find a way to make myself feel better. When I was little, my father used to sing to me in Spanish. He had an amazing voice, and mom said that was where I had got my talent from. I'd always remember my daddy singing to me. After he died in Iraq when I was eight I clung to that memory of him, refusing to let go. Lilly could barely remember him; she was only four when he died. A soft knock sounded at my door and my eyes widened in fear. I quickly made sure I was covered and lay on my right side so my mom or my sister wouldn't see the bruises all over me.

"Come in." I called, and my mother's head popped into my room. She smiled sympathetically at me, seeing me buried under the sheets. "Hey mom." I said. My voice sounded weak even to my own ears. Mom looked worried. She walked over and stood next to my bed.

"Are you ok, mija?" she asked and I shrugged. I didn't want to talk; I just wanted to lie in bed. She pushed the hair back from my forehead and sat next to me on the bed. "Is it boy trouble or real trouble?"

"Both Mom." I replied softly, snuggling more closely into my pillow. My mom stroked my cheek and I closed my eyes, praying she wouldn't touch anywhere else. I could barely keep myself from screaming from the pain, if she touched me I would lose the modicum of control I had over myself.

"Well you can stay home today sweetie. You deserve a break; you've worked hard every day of your life. I guess some of that is my fault. I just want what's best for you." She said and I nodded. If she knew what I was going through, her heart would break. "I love you mija."

"I love you too, Mamá." I replied and she kissed my forehead before leaving the room. I let out a sigh of relief and reached for my phone. I had fourteen missed calls. Ten of them were from Ryan, and I was glad I'd been asleep. I didn't want to hear anything he had to say. The other four missed calls were from Troy. He was probably worried about me. I'd left him stranded yesterday. He'd told me he loved me and I hadn't had the courage to say it back. My phone buzzed in my hand as I received a new text message. I reluctantly opened it and smiled as I read it.

_Ella, I'm so sorry if I freaked you out yesterday but I do love you. Completely. I don't want to lose you. Text me back just so I can know you're ok._

Troy was so sweet to me. He'd changed from the jerk he'd been last summer and I could see that all he wanted was for me to be happy, whether that was as his girlfriend or not. Although girlfriend seemed understated when I thought of what I wanted to be to him, and how I felt about him. God I wanted to be with him so badly. I smiled just thinking about him.

My phone's buzzing interrupted my thoughts and I looked down at it. It was a message from Ryan. Tears welled in my eyes and in a fit of anger I threw my phone across the room. It shattered against the wall, the back falling off and the screen cracking. I looked at the broken pieces of the phone and thought that they greatly resembled my heart.

**Troy's P.O.V**

My eyes roamed around the room slowly as I looked for familiar brown hair. I looked twice but it was no use. She wasn't here. Maybe I'd gone too far, moved too fast and now she was so freaked out she'd skipped school just to avoid me. I dismissed that thought as soon as it entered my mind. Gabriella wasn't a coward and although she cared about and was careful of everyone's feelings, she let you know where you stood with her. She wouldn't avoid school because she was afraid to reject me. There must be another reason.

I looked around the room again and my eyes rested on Ryan, who was in his usual spot next to his sister. He was smiling, looking totally unconcerned that his girlfriend was nowhere in sight. He probably knew why she wasn't here, but I'd confront Lucifer himself before I asked that asshole anything at all. I looked across at Taylor and smiled. There was the answer to my prayers. As one of Ella's best friends, Tay was more than likely to know what was going on with her.

"Tay?" I said and she looked around at me and smiled. My relationship with Taylor usually relied on the state of my relationship with Ella, which means that at the beginning of the school year when Ella wasn't talking to me, Tay wasn't talking to me either. Now, in the second semester, Tay and I were friends again, and she was sure that Ella and I would end up back together.

"Yeah Troy?" she replied, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. Taylor was beautiful, no doubt and just the sort of girl Chad needed. She kept him in line and he was crazy about her. I was really happy for both of them.

"Do you know if Ella's coming in today? I called her last night and she didn't pick up." I asked and her brow furrowed as she frowned. She looked across at Ryan and I followed her gaze. He suddenly seemed extremely interested in our conversation. Maybe he didn't know what was up with his girlfriend either.

"I haven't really talked to her since Tuesday, when I changed at her house for my date with Chad." She looked across at Ryan again, and smiled. Taylor loved Ryan, and she thought he was the perfect guy to help Ella get over me when I'd broken her heart. Just what I've always wanted. "Ry, where's Gabby?"

"I have no idea." Ryan said, his eyes flicking to me before he shot a bewildered smile at Taylor. "She hasn't been answering my calls." Taylor's brow furrowed again and she looked at me. I shrugged but I was getting really worried now. This wasn't like Ella. "Maybe she's sick or something."

"Yeah that's probably it." Taylor agreed. "Don't worry Troy; she's probably asleep, trying to fight off the flu." It was a plausible explanation but I had a feeling there was something deeper going on here and I just couldn't let it go. I was restless all through class and by the time the period before lunch rolled around I was about to lose my mind. I couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible had happened to Ella.

As soon as the bell for lunch rang, I was out of my seat and through the classroom door. I hurried outside in the cold air and jumped into my truck, pushing her as fast as she could go to Gabriella's house. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I tried again and waited a few minutes, but still nothing. I couldn't just stand there and not know if she was okay so I went around to the back of the house and climbed the tree to her balcony. I smiled when I saw her lying in bed, her eyes closed. She was okay. I was just a paranoid idiot.

I pushed open the door that led onto her balcony from her bedroom and stepped inside. I used to do this all the time last year, before summer. I went and sat on the bed next to her, brushing her hair out of her face. She stirred and her eyes fluttered open. She blinked and looked up at me, confusion in her eyes.

"Troy?" she murmured sleepily. "Aren't you supposed to be at school, Wildcat?" she asked and I grinned at the familiar nickname. I nodded and shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you." I replied, unable to stop myself from touching her face. "I thought you were avoiding me because I told you I love you." She smiled and shook her head, tears welling up in her already puffy eyes. She'd been crying last night I could tell. Because of me? God I hoped not.

"I love you too, Troy. So much." She whispered and my eyes widened. She smiled at me through her tears and nodded. "I love you." She said again and this time I didn't resist it. I leaned down and kissed her and almost died of pleasure when she kissed me back, opening her mouth for me so I could stroke her tongue with mine. My hand cupped her face and travelled slowly down her neck and shoulder to her side but as soon as I touched it she hissed and pulled away from me, biting her lip in pain.

"Ella?" I said but she just looked down, tears rolling down her already tear-stained cheeks. "Ella look at me, please." I said. She slowly turned her face to me and I gasped in shock. On her right cheek was a fading yellowish looking bruise, the kind she could only get from someone smacking her in the face. Before she could pull away from me, I grabbed her as gently as I could and pulled the blanket away from her. She was wearing nothing but a bra and panties, and I had a clear view of the purple bruise along her left side. She hung her head, her body shaking with sobs as I stared at her in shock.

"Who did this to you, Ella?" I demanded quietly, anger quickly replacing the shock. How could anyone hurt her like this? Why? She stood up from the bed, biting her lip to stifle a groan of pain, and I saw red. Whoever did this, I was going to kill them with my bare hands. "Ella? Look at me."

She turned to me and I couldn't stop my eyes from roaming her body. She was gorgeous, even with her bruises and I just wanted to hold her and comfort her. I opened my arms to her and she slowly walked into them. I gently wrapped my arms around her and she shivered against me, sagging against my chest.

"Ella, please tell me who did this to you." I whispered and she shook her head. "Gabriella…"

"I don't know, Troy." She finally said. I pulled away a little to look down at her with an eyebrow raised, keeping her wrapped in my arms. "I was walking home and someone jumped me. I have no idea who the hell it was. They took my jewellery." My eyes widened and I held her a little bit tighter, horrified to think that some desperate person had beaten her for money.

"Oh my gosh, Ella." I said, kissing her forehead. "We have to call the police." I let her go and gestured for her to put on clothes but she just shook her head. I glared at her. "Gabriella Marie…"

"I didn't get a look at the guy, Troy." She said. "He hit me so hard and so much I blacked out. The most I could give the police is a description of my jewellery, and that's probably been sold to some happy tourist who's back home in London by now. Just let it go."

I bit back a curse as I realised how right she was. Damn the girl for being so smart. I wanted blood for this, gallons of it. No one was ever going to hurt my Ella like this again. I sighed and cupped her cheek, looking into her eyes.

"Okay, Ella." I whispered and she smiled with relief. "So…I love you, you love me…what about Ryan?" her smile slipped off her face and her eyes went dead. I pulled away a little, surprised.

"Ryan and I are over." She stated bluntly. I wondered what he'd done to elicit this sort of reaction. She hadn't even looked that way about me when I'd gone off with Sharpay. "But I don't know where we stand yet. I love you, just like I always have, but I can't be with you. Not yet." I nodded, a little disappointed, but hopeful for a future with her. I leaned down and kissed her lips gently.

"You can have all the time you need. I'll be waiting, Ella." She smiled and pulled my lips back to hers. I put my hands on her curvy hips, pulling her closer to me as she wrapped her arms around my neck. When we pulled away she was smiling and the light was back on in her eyes and I was ecstatic that it was because of me. I was on cloud nine as I looked down into her eyes.

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

"You know I want to stay with you, Ella." Troy said as he and I were lying on my bed. He'd ditched school for the rest of the day and stayed with me. We'd kissed, a lot, and gone a little bit further than kissing, but nothing too serious. I still blushed when I thought about his hands on me though. His lips on me too. "But I'll already be in trouble for skipping school, I can't skip practice too. Dad will have my head."

I pouted and he groaned, leaning down to kiss me for what had to be the millionth time today. I smiled into the kiss, forgetting about the pain my body was in. I hated myself for lying to him about getting mugged, but I didn't want him to go after Ryan and get hurt. Ry was a lot stronger than he looked, and now I knew he was also freaking crazy. I had to keep him away from Troy and myself.

"I really need to go, Ella." Troy said against my lips and I nodded, reluctantly letting go of him. He stood and smiled at me before walking to the door. He looked back at me, his love for me in his eyes and waved stepping out the door. I loved him so much. Ryan was history to me. I would be able to forgive him for the first time, but now he'd done it twice.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at my bruises. They sickened me and I couldn't wait for them to go away. I sighed and stood up, pulling a big T-shirt out of my drawer, pulling it over my head. It fell to my knees and I smiled. This was one of Troy's T-shirt's that I'd stolen from his room ages ago when we'd been together. I loved this T-shirt.

I heard a knock at my bedroom door and smiled, thinking Troy was back. Maybe he'd want to do more than we'd been doing today. Maybe I'd let him. Whatever happened, I'd just be really glad to see him. I opened the door with a smile on my face, but then gasped and backed away when I saw Ryan.

"Brie." He said, smiling happily at me. "You're ok. Were you sick today, love?" He stepped into my bedroom, taking one step closer for every step I backed away. I hit my bedroom wall and my eyes widened. I was trapped and he was right in front of me. He cupped my cheek and smiled, leaning toward me. I turned my head so his kiss caught my cheek instead of my lips. He frowned but didn't hit me, which I was grateful for. "What's wrong baby?" I stared at him, dumbfounded. Was he just pretending he hadn't slammed me into the lockers or hit me?

"You are what's wrong, Ryan." I said and he stepped back, his eyes wide with shock. I put some more space between him, inching towards the door. I couldn't run, he was faster than I was, he'd catch me. "You hurt me, more than anyone ever has. I can't forgive you for what you did to me." He stood there staring at me. He looked heartbroken but I couldn't find it in myself to care.

"Brie, please. Whatever I've done, I didn't mean to hurt you. Please just, don't leave me?" he said, sounding like my Ryan again. I paused for a second before I remembered what he'd said to me. What he'd done to me. I couldn't be with him, not anymore. And anyway I loved Troy. Being with him was all that was important to me. "Please, just tell me what I did and I'll fix it." I couldn't accept that. How could he act like he didn't know what he'd done to me? I walked over to him and slapped him across the face, then pulled my shirt off so he could look at what he'd done to me. I saw his eyes widen in shock. "Gabriella, who did this to you?"

"YOU DID!" I screamed. He reeled back from me, backing away into the wall, shaking his head. "You broke my heart, and bruised my body! I woke up stiff this morning because **you **slammed me into the lockers! Don't pretend that you don't know what you did to me!" Ryan wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring down at something on the ground by my bed. He walked over to it and picked it up, and I saw that it was a wallet; Troy's wallet. My eyes widened and I backed away from him but he grabbed my arms.

"Was he here?" he bit out through clenched teeth. His eyes were crazy again, like they had been in the hallway. "Did he kiss you? Did you sleep with him, you filthy whore?" I pulled away from him but he grabbed me tighter. "You're not gonna choose him over me Gabriella!"

"I already did!" I yelled. I was not gonna back down this time. "We are _**over**_!" Ryan let out a scream of rage and pushed me onto my bed, wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing. I gasped fighting for air, kicking and clawing at his hands. My vision was fading, I tried to scream but nothing came out. Just as suddenly as he'd started, Ryan stopped. His hands moved from my neck and I gasped, pulling air in only to let in out in a scream as his hands reached around to my back and unhooked my bra. He kissed me, pushing his tongue into my mouth. I dug my nails into his skin, trying to get him off of me as he pulled off my bra and grabbed my breasts roughly.

"No!" I screamed. "Please no!" I kicked him and he grunted, biting down on my neck so hard I screamed out in pain. He grabbed my panties and ripped them off, kissing me again. I started sobbing, knowing he was going to rape me and there was nothing I could do about it. I lay there dazed as he pulled my thighs open, not even bothering to fight anymore. The pain of him forcing himself on me was unbearable, but what hurt the most was the fact that he would do this to me, that he would take away the beauty of losing my virginity from me. When he was finished he collapsed on me, kissing my breast and smiling serenely like he hadn't just used me against my will. He thought I'd enjoyed it.

"That was amazing Brie." He said, balancing his weight on his arms and looking down at me, grinning. "You're so tight baby." I smiled weakly, holding back my tears. "Now you're mine forever. You could be carrying my baby." I cringed at the thought. I didn't want his child inside me. I didn't want _him_. I stiffened as he ran a finger down my neck. "You're staying with me forever Gabriella. I'll kill you and everyone else you love if you don't." I nodded, thinking of my beautiful baby sister, who was so innocent and sweet. I couldn't let him hurt her, or Troy or anyone else.

"Good." Ryan said, stroking my cheek. "I love you, Brie. Now tell me you love me too." I swallowed and choked back a sob, managing to smile up at him.

"I love you too." I croaked out, not resisting as he leaned down and kissed me. "You should go now. My mom and Lilly will be home soon." He nodded and got off of me, pulling on his clothes and going through the door. I collapsed into sobs, pulling the blanket around me. After an hour, my tears dried up. I felt drained, sore and violated. I jumped up and rushed into the shower, scrubbing myself raw for twenty minutes but I still felt dirty. I climbed out of the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. Something shining on the basin caught my eye and I walked over. It was a razor my mom had left there when she was shaping her eyebrows this morning. I picked it up, studying it closely, knowing that what I was about to do was very wrong.

I slid the razor across my wrist, hissing as pain shot through my arm. I bit my lip as blood slid slowly from my wrist into the sink. It hurt like hell, but it felt good in a way. It was a release and a distraction and I welcomed it. Finally, I had another pain to focus on than the one in my chest.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

**Ryan's P.O.V**

I closed my eyes as warm water poured over my head from the shower jet above me. Making love to Gabriella had been amazing. She had screamed for me, begged for me, she'd wanted me so much. And I'd wanted her. God she had felt so good, so right. I couldn't wait to be with her again. She couldn't have had sex with Troy; he must have dropped his wallet when she was telling him to get out. Gabriella would never cheat on me. She loved me so much and she proved it by letting me make love to her. She wouldn't hesitate to let me be inside her again, I knew it. She'd enjoyed it as much as I had.

I shut off the water and looked at myself in the mirror, touching my shoulder where there was a red welt from Gabriella fighting me. She was so playful, such a tease, pretending she didn't want me. I frowned as I remembered the bruises on her face, on her body. How did she get those? Was it Troy? I swear I'm going to kill that son of a bitch. How could he hurt her like that?

I reached toward the toothpaste on the sink and paused as my hand shook before my eyes. I looked up and the room was spinning and I groaned in pain as my head started to feel like it was splitting apart. Images of my fist hitting Gabriella's face made the headache worse. The pain brought me to my knees and I curled up on the cool tiles of the bathroom floor until it subsided. When it did, I stood and pulled open the mirrored door of the cabinet above the sink. My hand paused on top of the bottle of pills I was supposed to take every day. I didn't need them. I wasn't crazy, was I? No, no I was fine.

The image of Gabriella cowering away from me as I raised my fist to hit her again stopped me from closing the cabinet door. Had I…had I really done that to her, or had I imagined that. I remembered the bruises on her skin last night and her screaming at me that I'd done that to her. Was that all in my head? I didn't know what was real anymore. My hand lingered on the bottle of pills, before I stepped back and slammed the door shut. I faced myself in the mirror, and tried out a smile. I was still Ryan Evans. I wasn't crazy. I was fine.

**Troy's P.O.V**

I grinned like an idiot as I walked into school. My eyes roamed the hallways for Ella. I wasn't really expecting her to come to school, due to that huge bruise on her side, but I was still hoping. If she wasn't here, I'd go see her at lunch, maybe spend the night with her. I finally had her back, my Ella. We were starting over, getting back to how we used to be, how we always should have been. I couldn't believe I'd ever let her go but now she was back with me-sort of-and I'd wait as long as it took for her to truly be mine again.

"What do you look so happy about?" Taylor asked as I stopped beside her and Chad, who had his arm around her shoulders. My smile only got wider and I shook my head. I wasn't sure I wanted to get everyone excited about Gabriella and I yet. Definitely not before she told people that she and Ryan were over.

"Nothin'. I'm just having a good day, Tay." I said, and then grabbed her, spun her around and gave her a huge smack on the cheek. "A really great-" I broke off and slowly let go of Taylor as I saw Gabriella walking into school with Ryan's arm wrapped around her. She was wearing a long sleeved, scoop necked, blue and white striped dress that came to just above her knees. Her hair was in a pony tail and the mark on her face was gone, probably hidden by makeup. The two of them walked up to us, and she refused to look me in the eye, looking instead at the ground. Ryan, however, had the world's biggest smirk on his face and was staring at me triumphantly.

"Hey guys. How ya doin, Tay? What's up Chad?" Chad and Taylor exchanged confused glances. I knew why. Ryan was acting weird; they had never seen him act like such an arrogant asshole before. I looked at Gabriella, trying to understand what was going on. She'd kissed me, she'd told me she loved me. She'd been telling the truth, or at least I'd thought so. I'd always been sure Ella would never lie to me.

"Ella?" I said, stepping closer to her, and Ryan pulled her closer to him. I watched her wince as he crushed her left side, the one with the bruise. Had she not told him, or was he just that careless? "Ella?" I tried again, willing her to look at me.

"Brie doesn't want to talk to you, Bolton, and neither do I, so why don't you go shoot a basket? That's the only thing you're good at." I saw Ella's jaw clench but she didn't say anything. This wasn't like her. Something was wrong. Something way deeper and worse than I'd realized. I had a niggling suspicion that she'd lied to me about not knowing who had hit her. I was pretty sure her attacker was possessively pulling her toward him. The realization stunned me and I immediately rejected it. Ryan was crazy, and overly possessive, but he'd never ever hurt her like that…would he?

"Gabriella? What's going on?" Taylor asked, stepping forward. Ella continued to stare down at her feet. I could see her closing in on herself. Something was very, very wrong here.

"You can talk to Taylor, Brie. Come on, why are you being so shy?" Ryan smiled indulgently at her, concern in his eyes. He touched her cheek, the one that had been bruised, and I saw the shudder that she tried to stifle. Ryan's eyes hardened and he turned her face toward him. She looked anywhere but in his eyes and his grip tightened on her. She looked up at him and smiled. "You're gonna talk to Taylor, aren't you Brie?" he said and she nodded.

"Of course, Ry." He smiled then, and let her go, and she turned to Taylor with a smile and linked arms with her, walking toward their first class. Chad and I studied Ryan, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. The way he was treating her, it was like he owned her. She wouldn't talk to me, she wouldn't look at me; she wouldn't look at _anyone _unless he said it was okay. This was not how Ella acted. Not the Ella any of us knew.

"Chad?" I said as we both fenced Ryan in. "Don't you think it's weird, how Ella's acting?" Ryan rolled his eyes at us and Chad crossed his arms across his chest.

"I do think it's weird, Troy. Seems like Ry's controlling her, don't you think?" Chad replied, one of his brows raised. Ryan smiled.

"I think you two basketball boys have lost your minds, and you need to get out of my way." He said coldly, his eyes on me. "If Brie doesn't talk to you, Bolton, it's because she doesn't want to. Accept that and stop trying to blame it on me."

"Now you see Ryan, I don't know if I believe that. I know Gabriella, and even if she didn't want to talk to me, she damn sure wouldn't have hesitated to talk to Taylor. You were hurting her. Didn't you notice, Chad?" Chad propped his chin on one of his hands and cocked his head, staring Ryan down.

"It seemed like he was gripping her face pretty hard, yeah." He said. Ryan looked between the two of us and then smiled and pushed past us, walking toward his math class, which he unfortunately had with Gabriella. I hung back with Chad.

"He did something to her, Troy. I don't know what it is but she's not our Gabby." Chad said to me, his eyes on Ryan's back. I nodded.

"I know man. I think I know what he did but I hope to God I'm wrong."

**Sharpay's P.O.V **

My heels clicked satisfactorily as I walked through the halls of East High, hall pass in hand. Chemistry was definitely not my subject of choice. School was such a bore. I busied myself thinking about my character in the next musical. I was the star this time around, thanks to Ryan, Gabriella was more interested in the scholastic decathlon and besides it was senior year. She wanted to do her very best in exams, the little nerd.

I pushed open the door to the bathroom, stopping to look at myself in the mirror. Perfection as usual. I fluffed my blonde curls and pulled out my lipgloss. My hand was poised with the brush over my lips when I heard a noise. I put my lipgloss back in my bag and walked around, checking under the stalls. When I got to the last stall, the crying was louder, and I pushed it open.

Gabriella was on her knees, a bloody razor on the ground next to her and a towel pressed against her wrist. She looked up at me, mascara running down her face with her tears, her chest heaving with silent sobs. I stood there stunned into silence. This was not the Gabriella I hated but grudgingly respected. This girl was broken.

"What-" I began but she pushed herself up off the ground and rushed to the sink. She stuck her wrist under the faucet while I watched, mute. When her wrist stopped bleeding, she scrubbed her face free of makeup and I gasped at the fresh bruise across her cheek. I put a hand to my mouth as I remembered my wrist being grabbed roughly and slammed against a door. Oh God, no.

"Gabriella…" I said, horrified, as she reapplied concealer and mascara to her face. The whole time she said not one word, not until she was finished. Only then did she look at me again, and although her face was as beautiful as it ever was, her eyes were dead and haunted.

"Please don't tell Ryan." She whispered, and then without waiting for an answer she dashed out of the bathroom. I backed against a wall and held my left wrist to my chest. No, no this could not be happening. I had to do something. I had to talk to Troy.

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

I rushed out of the bathroom blindly. I couldn't believe of all people, Sharpay had caught me. I couldn't be sure that she wouldn't tell Ryan, but I hoped to God she wouldn't. She didn't hate me that much, did she? Or were both the Evans twins goddamn crazy? I was so busy being terrified of what Ryan would do to me, and mortified that Sharpay had seen me, that I wasn't watching where I was going and I bumped headfirst into the one person I wanted to avoid.

I rushed to pick up my bag, the makeup and towel had fallen out, and I needed to get them back in before anyone saw them. I felt strong hands pick me up off the ground and clutched the towel to my chest. Oh God, please don't let anyone see.

"Ella." I closed my eyes and choked down a sob. Oh, Troy. "Ella please, look at me." I slowly opened my eyes and turned to Troy. He was as handsome as ever, his hair darker now than when we'd first met, his eyes the bluest I'd ever seen, and they were so full of worry and love, it broke my heart. "Ella, tell me what's going on."

"I…I can't, I-" I stammered and closed my eyes as tears welled. With everything that had happened, I didn't know if I could stand the look in his eyes right now. "I'm so sorry, I can't…" he gently put his hands on my shoulders and steadied me. He kept his gaze on me until I looked him in the eye.

"You said you love me." He whispered confusion and hurt in his voice but nothing but worry for me in his eyes. "You meant it. I felt it. I felt it when we kissed." I closed my eyes, remembering how gentle he was with me, wishing he had made love to me when he was in my room, so my first time wouldn't have been with a monster. "You love me, Ella, and I love you. You told me you and Ryan were over. Just tell me what changed. Tell me so I can help. Don't shut me out, Ella, please."

I clutched my chest tighter as a sob escaped my throat. I wanted so badly to tell him but I was so afraid of what Ryan would do to me when he found out. What he would do to Lilly, or Mama, or what he would do to Troy. I pulled myself out of Troy's arms and backed away while he watched me helplessly.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered and then I ran. I ran until I got outside and then I sank onto the ground and let myself sob. Tears poured down my face and each breath hurt me more. I couldn't take this anymore. It needed to end. I needed to end. My tears dried up as I finally saw my way out.

**Sharpay's P.O.V**

I waited silently as Ryan opened my car door and climbed in. He was fidgety and his eyes jumped all over the place. I took a breath and started the car. I'd been here before five years ago. It was worse this time. I had to be very careful what I said and how I said it. Anything could make him snap right now. I unconsciously flexed my wrist as I pulled out of the school parking lot into the traffic.

"Ryan." I said calmly, my eyes flicking to him next to me and back to the road. He looked across at me expectantly and I took a breath to calm myself. He was scary when he was like this, something I- and Gabriella-had found out the hard way. "How are things with Gabriella? Are you two still sickeningly adorable?" My brother smiled when I mentioned Gabriella's name, and he relaxed a little, seemed more grounded.

"We're great. We're better than we've ever been, actually." I nodded agreeably, waiting for him to continue. "We're more in love than ever. We had sex the other night, it was amazing." My eyes widened and I thought of Gabriella on her knees in the bathroom. Oh please God, he didn't. No, no.

"That's…incredible, Ry." I said, my voice infused with sisterly love and happiness. He grinned at me. "Hey Ry, have you been to see Dr. Tracy lately?" I asked. He frowned but I kept my voice light and my eyes on the road. I couldn't let him feel like I was interrogating him, or he'd get agitated, and I needed to get us both home in one piece.

"No. I don't go see Dr. Tracy anymore, Shar. I don't need a shrink, I'm not crazy." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than me. I eased off of my questioning a bit and tried something else.

"Oh I know you're not crazy, Ryan. I just thought you liked talking to her. You said she shared your love of jazz hands." His brow furrowed again, but then he smiled, probably remembering a conversation he and Tracy Sullivan had had about dance moves. She liked to get him to talk about things he liked first, before moving into the darker things. "You guys talk about a lot of things, if I remember. When I went with you, we talked about the musical and about Troy and Gabriella, and about your medication. You been taking your meds, Ry?"

"No, Sharpay, I don't need meds! I told you, I'm not crazy!" I briefly closed my eyes, sighing in relief as I pulled into our driveway. I shut off the engine and turned to Ryan, but he was already walking up to the front door. I sat for a moment, wondering whether what I was about to do next was the right thing. Then I started the engine again and pulled onto the road. It was time to go talk to Troy.

**Troy's P.O.V**

The basketball bounced off the rim off the net and landed on the court, bouncing a few more times before it rolled to a stop at my feet. I cursed and picked it up, aiming for the net again and missing….again. As usual, whenever my head was messed up, so was my playing. I let out a groan of frustration and turned to throw my ball at the wall, when I saw Sharpay standing there. She was leaning against the wall with her arms wrapped around herself.

"Shar?" I said, and she gave me a sad smile. "What is it?" I walked over to her and she did something unexpected. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest. "Shar, you're shaking."

"We have to talk." She said and I nodded, leading her into my house and up to my room. She sat Indian style on my bed and folded her hands in her lap. Then she looked up at me, and I saw more depth to her than she ever let on to anyone. With a sigh she started her story.

"When we were thirteen, we went away to Paris for Christmas. Ryan wanted to go to Peru, for some reason, I really don't know, but our parents always gave me what I wanted and it was my dream to go to Paris. He'd been acting up lately, there was extreme moodiness and he would throw tantrums about the littlest things." She tucked a blonde curl behind her ear and sighed again. "On Christmas day, our parents got me this amazingly perfect microphone with my initials engraved on it, but all they got Ryan was a beret. It was a tricked out beret, with his initials on it, but it still was so much less than what they'd gotten me. I didn't pay much attention to it back then, but he was always getting so much less attention than I was. Anyway, I was singing into the microphone and he just lost it. He grabbed it, but I wouldn't let it go, so he grabbed my wrist and slammed it hard against my bedroom door until I let it go." She rubbed her wrist as she said that and I flashed back to the purple bruise all over Gabriella's side.

"Oh God, Shar, no." I murmured and she nodded, seeing that I was beginning to understand.

"My dad got him off of me, but Ryan wouldn't stop fighting him. Then suddenly he was okay. He just stopped fighting, picked me up off the ground and hugged me, and handed me my microphone. Our parents took him to a psychologist. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder the next day." She bit her lip and looked up at me. "When we got back to New Mexico, he started seeing a shrink regularly, and he had medication he was supposed to take every day. He's been the normal Ryan I always knew since then, he's never acted out again. At least that's what I thought, until I saw Gabriella today." My blood ran cold when she mentioned Ella's name, and I stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"She was on her knees in a bathroom stall, a razor with blood on it was on the ground, and she was pressing a towel to her wrist." I shook my head. This was not happening. "When I caught her she sprang up and washed off her wrist and fixed her makeup. I saw a bruise on her face. And I thought….I didn't want to think he hit her but he's been acting so strange lately. And then before she ran out the door she said 'please don't tell Ryan', and I just knew."

"No, no, no. Oh shit, no." I said. That was basically all that was in my vocabulary at that point. "We need to get Ella away from him."

"Troy, there's something else." Shar said. "When we were driving home I asked him a couple questions to figure out how far gone he was. He said he was off his meds. And Troy…he said he and Gabriella had sex last night. He seemed to think it was consensual but…she was cutting herself. I think….I think he raped her."

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

The house was quiet, and empty. I dropped my bag on the floor by the front door and slowly went to the kitchen. I grabbed a glass from out of the cupboard and held it up to the light. It glittered like diamonds and I smiled at its beauty. I felt detached, like I was watching myself from far away. Maybe I was losing it. Maybe being beaten and raped had made something snap and I'd lost my mind. I wasn't sure, but I felt lighter, freer. I wanted to laugh like an idiot. Turning away from the cupboard, I threw the glass at the wall with all my strength and watched it shatter.

I reached down and picked up the biggest piece of the glass I could find. Then I sat on the ground in the kitchen and thought about my Mom and Lilly. I thought about my Dad and how he'd have murdered Ryan if he'd been here. I thought about how my Papa would have protected me. I thought about Taylor and Chad, Kelsi and Jason, Martha and Zeke, even Sharpay. Then I thought about Troy, how it felt when he kissed me, how much I loved him and how much he loved me, and I knew I couldn't do it. I had to talk to him. I had to tell him what was going on. If there was a chance to be with him I had to take it.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

**Gabriella's P.O.V**

I heard a car pull up to the driveway and sprang off the kitchen floor. I grabbed a broom and dustpan and quickly swept up the shards of glass, shoving the dustpan behind the garbage can. I looked around frantically for a minute, trying to settle down enough to act normal for my mom, then I stopped cold. What if it was Ryan? I grabbed a knife out of the drawer and held it behind my back and walked up to the door. I pulled it open and sagged in relief when I saw Troy, but my relief was short-lived, as Sharpay's pink convertible pulled up behind his truck. She got out and looked at me apologetically, and I raised an eyebrow. I looked back up at Troy and finally noticed the absolute rage on his face.

"Troy?" I asked hesitantly. He was angry with me for cutting my wrist, obviously. The stupid blonde bitch had told him. When I had said not to tell Ryan, I should have included everyone else on the planet.

"Did he hit you?" Troy asked quietly, the rage in his voice barely contained. My eyes widened and I looked at Sharpay. How had she known? Did she look at the bruise on my face and put two and two together? I was surprised the airhead could add that high. "Gabriella. Did. He. Hit. You?" Sharpay walked up to stand behind Troy and looked at me. I was surprised to see sympathy in her eyes.

"He's sick, Gabriella. Whatever he's done to you, he doesn't know what he's doing. Just…tell us so we can help you. And him." She rubbed her wrist and stared pleadingly into my eyes. She was begging me to tell the truth, for her brother's sake. That didn't make sense. He was sick? Well that I already knew. He didn't know what he was doing? I thought of how he had ignored my pleading, how he had invaded me; taken everything from me.

A profound, undeniable rage overtook me and I braced my hand on the door. I had to get control; I had to watch what I said. Ryan could hurt me again; he could hurt my family, or Troy. He could do so much worse than just rape me. I could handle anything he did to me, or I could try to, but if he hurt Troy, I would lose it.

"Ryan hasn't done anything to me. I told you I was mugged." I said as calmly as I could. I glanced at Sharpay, who shook her head, and then my gaze settled on Troy. He didn't believe me, I could tell. He was remembering the same thing I was, me telling him that I love him, and my heart broke for what we could have had if I'd admitted the truth to myself and him earlier. I needed to convince him that I wanted to be with Ryan. If I was going to survive, if I was going to keep the man I loved from being hurt, I had to hurt him myself. I had to break his heart.

"Gabriella, please. I want to help you, I want to protect you, but I can't if you lie to me. If he's hurting you, you can't just let him." Troy said, stepping closer to me, staring into my eyes. I closed my eyes briefly and let out a slow breath. Then I looked up at him and I smiled.

"Thank you both for your concern but Ryan isn't hurting me. Why would you even think he was? Sharpay, that's your brother." I was glad that I sounded genuinely surprised, but I wanted to know how she had figured it out. Sharpay glanced at Troy and then sighed. She stepped forward too and laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Gabriella, Ryan is bipolar. He's not taking his medication." My eyes widened and I pressed a hand to my mouth. He was bipolar? That was why he was doing this to me? He really didn't know what he was doing? I tried to catch myself, to regain my composure, but this shook me to the core. How could I hate him now, when I knew he was literally out of his mind? Sharpay had just stolen the only fuel to my fire, my only reason to survive and fight back. She'd stolen my rage.

"That's…awful. Why didn't he tell me?" I murmured. My world was spinning. One minute Ryan was a horrible person, the next he had a disorder and he needed help for what he was doing to me. I was so torn. My head was telling me to be angry at him, to make him pay but my heart hurt for the sweet Ryan I knew who was suffering from a disorder.

"He doesn't want people to think he's crazy." The pain in Sharpay's voice stunned me. I never knew she loved her brother so much. I didn't think she was capable of it. The Evans twins were proof that the outside did not nearly give you an idea of what was inside. "You have to tell us the truth. If he's hurting you, you have to tell us, so we can help him. If you deny it, then we can't get him help."

I thought about this, and about how afraid I was of what Ryan would do if he found out I had told them what he'd done to me. I wanted Ryan to get help, but he might be able to hurt my sister or Troy or someone else I cared about before any psychologist or doctor could help him. I couldn't take that risk. As much as I wanted this all to be over, I couldn't take the chance that someone I loved would be hurt. I took a deep breath and looked up at Troy again.

"Ryan is always kind to me. He would never hurt me. He loves me." I said slowly, spreading a smile across my face. Sharpay sighed and lowered her eyes but Troy just stared at me closely. He always knew when I was lying.

"Could you give us a minute, Shar?" he asked, his eyes still on me, and she nodded, backing away and getting into her car. Troy closed the door and looked at me then he pulled me into his arms. I melted against him, I couldn't help myself. He was warmth and love and he made me feel so safe but I knew that this time I was the one who had to protect him. It took me a few minutes, but I managed to pull away.

"Gabriella, don't do this to me. Don't do this to us. Don't shut me out. I don't know what he's said, how he's threatened you but I will protect you. I need you to trust me because if you tell me he's not hurting you, then I have to believe you lied to me about loving me, and I don't want to face how much that would hurt." He was pleading with me, his beautiful blue eyes full of pain and love. He reached for me again but I stepped away and his arms dropped lifelessly to his side. I hated myself for what I was about to do.

"I do love you. I always will." This much was true. Even if I was trapped with Ryan for the rest of my life, Troy would always have my heart.

"Then come with me. I can protect you." I shook my head and steeled myself for the pain I knew I was going to see in his eyes. "Gabriella, I…I know he's hitting you. I know what he took from you. I know he…raped you. I would never do any of this to you. He doesn't love you; he's out of his mind."

I held back a cry at the words "he raped you". Oh God, how did he know? Shame washed through me, and disgust held me in a grip so tight I couldn't get free. My innocence, the one thing I had wanted to share with someone who loved me unconditionally, had been taken from me, and now the love of my life knew and he still wanted me, still wanted to protect me. He was so perfect, and I was just broken now. I didn't deserve him and now I was going to have to hurt him.

"He didn't…rape me." I said, almost choking on the word. I needed to get a grip, I needed to make it convincing. Troy didn't look convinced. I was going to have to step it up a notch. "I'm sorry, I do love you and I thought I wanted to be with you but he came to me after you left and he apologised for everything he was doing. I told him that I wanted to be with you but he kissed me and I…I don't know, things just got so…passionate. He told me how much he loved me, how much he wanted me and he was touching me everywhere…and I was just so overwhelmed…" I closed my eyes as I thought about what I was saying. It wasn't a lie. Me wanting it was a lie. The hugest lie I could ever tell. Troy's eyes were darkening and his face had fallen but he was still staring at me.

"You're lying to me." He whispered his eyes on my face. "He said he'd hurt me so you're lying to me to protect me." I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this. I'd hoped he'd believe me and that I wouldn't have to be cruel. I'd hoped I wouldn't have to crush him.

"I'm not lying, Troy." I looked him dead in the eyes and delivered the fatal blow. "When he was inside me, I moaned for him, I begged him. It was unlike anything I've ever felt in my life. We've been having sex every night." Troy closed his eyes, his face crumpling in pain. I wanted to tell him it wasn't true, that I was just saying it so Ryan wouldn't hurt me, but instead I just said what I'd been saying since Ryan had first hit me. "I'm so sorry."

A strangled half-sob, half-laugh escaped his throat. He slowly opened his eyes and then he turned away from me and opened the door. I watched as the man I truly loved walked out of my life, probably forever and tears filled my eyes. I wanted to sink to the floor and let myself cry but applause suddenly filled the room. I looked behind me and there stood Ryan, a smile on his face. I closed my eyes. Just when I thought this day couldn't possibly get worse.

"How did you get in here?" I asked as pleasantly as I could. I kept my eyes closed but I could feel him stepping closer to me. His hands gently cupped my face and there was silence for a while until I slowly opened my eyes. He was looking down at me with a tender expression on his face and his thumbs slowly rubbed circles on my cheeks. He tilted my chin up and covered my mouth with his, his hands sliding down my body to rest on my bottom as he pulled me onto him. I could feel him against me and I shuddered in disgust, which he mistook for anticipation. I went without a fight as he dragged me up to my bedroom and once again had his way with my body. As he lay asleep with his head on my breasts after he was done, I thought about the pain on Troy's face, and I silently let myself cry.

**Troy's P.O.V**

I rushed through the front door and threw open the driver's side door to my truck. I climbed in and slammed it behind me, putting my hands on the steering wheel, trying to control my breathing. How could she have done this to me? How could she have told me she loved me and then the same night let that crazy son of a bitch into her body? That was supposed to be me. I was supposed to make love to her, my Ella. I was supposed to show her how much she meant to me.

I let out a low growl of rage and betrayal and turned the key in the ignition, willing my truck not to fuck around with me right now. She purred to life and I shoved the gear stick into reverse. I started to put my foot on the gas but had the sense to look behind me to see if Shar was still there. She was just getting out of her car to come to me but I blew my horn and revved the engine. I needed to get away from this house with all its memories. Shar hurriedly got back into the driver's seat and moved out of my way and I wasted no time in getting on my way.

I pulled up in front of my house and parked my truck in the garage. Hopping out, I headed straight to the mini fridge my dad kept out there and pulled out two six packs of beers. I lugged them up to my room and set them on the floor by my bed. Pulling off my shirt, I tossed it into a corner and dropped onto my bed. The first thing my eyes landed on was a picture of Gabriella and me from when we had sung Breaking Free in the school musical. I had put it there as a reminder of what I was working toward; a future with the beautiful girl who had been the music in my heart. Now it just served as a reminder of what I had lost.

In a fit of rage, I grabbed the photo and tossed it against the wall. I heard glass breaking but instead of satisfaction, all I felt was emptiness. I reached down and grabbed one of the beers, lifting it to my lips and letting the alcohol work its magic.

I groaned as sunlight streamed through the curtains that had just been roughly pulled aside from my bedroom windows. The light did wonders for my already raging headache. Beer bottles littered my bedroom floor and I yelped in pain as I tried to open my eyes. I was hung over. No doubt about it.

"Go away." I muttered, my voice sounding like gravel. I heard a disgusted sigh and then cold water was being poured all over my head. I jumped up and hissed, wiping water from my eyes. "What the fuck!" I yelled, opening my eyes to see Sharpay's blonde face staring down at me.

"What the hell happened? You drove off like a madman last night and now I find you drunker than a skunk in your room at eleven on a school day?" she said. "What did Gabriella say?" I sobered up immediately, my heart breaking all over again as I remembered the words that had crushed every hope of a life with Gabriella I'd ever had. "Troy? What did she say?"

"Go away." I scouted around on the ground and found a beer I hadn't opened yet. I grabbed it and popped it open, chugging it down and enjoying the burn as the alcohol slid down my throat. She had moaned for him, she'd said. She'd begged him. It was unlike anything she'd ever felt. They'd been having sex every night. The words replayed in my mind, like knives stabbing in my heart. It had been so easy to see something that wasn't there. I had so wanted to believe that the reason she wasn't with me was that he was hurting her. I just hadn't wanted to accept that the sweet girl I had met and opened up to, the beauty that I'd given my heart to, could betray me. I hadn't wanted to accept the truth.

"Troy you have to tell me what she said. We know Gabriella. She would do anything to protect the ones she loves. She would say _anything_. Tell me what she said." Sharpay said and I sighed. I sat up again and my eyes filled with tears as I forced myself to repeat what Gabriella had said to me.

"Are you sure that's what she said. Word for word?" Sharpay asked, a sceptical look on her face. I nodded and buried my face in my hands. How could she have played with me like this? Had it all been to get back at me for what I'd done to her? Would she really do that to me? Had everything I'd felt when she'd kissed me been a lie?

"She's lying." Sharpay mumbled, frown lines appearing between her carefully sculpted eyebrows. I looked up at her, wondering what she was getting at. "Zeke and I…well when we…it was amazing. Incredible. We made love, countless times in one night." I grimaced, a little surprised. I hadn't known they'd gone that far. I doubted anyone knew. "She never once said that he made love to her. She didn't say she enjoyed it or that she wanted it. She said she begged him, not she begged for him. She didn't and doesn't want him. He's taking her, whether she wants him to or not. He thinks she likes it."

I considered this for a moment, thinking of the times when I had been with my previous girlfriends. They had all been satisfied; they'd all glowed whenever they talked about me to their friends. I'd felt like the man every time I saw one of them talking about me. They had always come to me for me. I could see the lust in their eyes. When Gabriella talked about being with Ryan, I had known from the beginning that she was lying to me. Her words in the end had gotten the effect she wanted. Imagining her with him, moaning for him, him inside her every night, it killed me. I couldn't see past that pain to the hollowness in her eyes. She didn't want to be with him. What she had said, she probably hadn't been lying to me. Ryan probably had come to her with apologies and words of love. The problem came when she was trying to convince me that she had wanted it. I knew her. She was lying to me.

"He has something over her."I said, looking at Sharpay. "I know he's your brother and I know that when this is all over, all you want is for him to get back on his meds but after all he's done to her, he deserves to be locked away in a mental institution for the rest of his life. We can't let him be around people Sharpay. He's capable of raping the most caring girl on this planet. He was capable of breaking his twin sisters' wrist. I don't want to take chances with you, her or anyone else that I care about." Sharpay lowered her eyes as she thought this over, resignation written all over her body.

"Okay." She replied, her voice heavy with sadness. "We take him down and we get him away from everyone. We can't let my brother hurt anyone anymore."


End file.
